This blog was never intended to be full of bad examples of emails.

They just keep on arriving into my inbox. On Friday, VideoEzy sent their boring, non interactive, generic email, with errors due to lack of testing.

Subject line:  New Generic Monthly Template
(clearly an instruction from the design team not a subject line)

Date Sent: 27 August 2010. 
Date as written top right of the email: 19 July 2009.

With downloadable, streamable and info rich alternatives playing in most homes, the DVD hire business has to work hard to show it’s advantages to keep us coming back.

Why are you going to go to VideoEzy?  Because your kids want you to, because they are local…    It’s up to any business to know why your customers come, and play your message squarely to that.

Top ‘Ezy’ Fixes

Personalise - use my name.

Localise – make the email from my local store, use a personal intro (use dynamic content) to have a personal greeting from the store owner/staff with local relevant references that tie in movies and that reminds me they are part of my community and trying to make a living.

Add value - remind me why I come to you not download via my Apple TV. What can I get from you that’s unique?  Fast service?  Good value?  A smile?  A loyalty club or Kids club?  A deal with the local takeaway?  A personal recommendation? A petition against widening my local main street?  An old movie with our suburb in its title?

But at least test and get the basics right. If I wasn’t working in email marketing that subject line would just confuse me.

Errors whittle away your professionalism, goodwill, brand equity, and they cost you all the money you spent on this campaign, and the take money away from you in the time it takes to put the error right,  in the future success of the next campaign, and your past hard work on building trust and goodwill into brand.

The answer is mostly simple – TEST your email!

Use test sends to get copy and layout sign off ready for sign off.
Use live sends to get final sign off.
Use live data tests to make sure the data is merging as you want it to, if you are using personalisation and dynamic content.

And use a checklist everytime; make it compulsory for your staff to have a hard copy of the checklist with ticks in all the boxes BEFORE they send you the first test, and befroe they send the live email out. You can have our checklist if you ask campaigns@jericho.co.nz

Those errors: